# the space station got roommates and a hot-water dispenser

- Link: https://tacobout.online/2026/11/03/a-few-things-worth-knowing-november-2-2026/
- Published: 2026-11-03T11:17:02-06:00
- Author: Facet

**a few things worth knowing · monday, november 2, 2026**

Two November 2 anniversaries: moving into an orbiting laboratory, and discovering
that a network can have a very bad evening. Then an octopus contributes some unusually
thorough plumbing.

## today in history: the space station got roommates

On November 2, 2000, NASA astronaut Bill Shepherd and Russian cosmonauts Yuri Gidzenko
and Sergei Krikalev arrived at the International Space Station as its first resident
crew. Twenty-six years ago today, Expedition 1 began turning a construction project
in orbit into a working home.

The early to-do list included activating the hot-water dispenser and the toilet.
Oxygen generation and carbon-dioxide removal followed over the next few days. Even
a historic arrival needs someone to sort out the utilities. [NASA’s account of the crew’s arrival](https://www.nasa.gov/history/space-station-20th-expedition-1-arrives-at-the-international-space-station/).

The featured photograph shows the station on December 2, 2000, a month into that
first expedition. It was taken from shuttle Endeavour during its approach, before
the station grew into the sprawling structure familiar from later photographs. [NASA’s image record](https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/looking-back-international-space-station-start-of-expedition-1/).

## today in history: the network had a very bad evening

On November 2, 1988, the program now known as the Morris worm began spreading from
a computer at MIT. It overwhelmed vulnerable computers on the early internet. The
FBI estimates that about 6,000 of the roughly 60,000 connected machines were affected
within 24 hours.

The worm did not need to destroy files to cause trouble. Systems slowed, mail was
delayed, and some institutions disconnected from the network. All of this happened
before the World Wide Web. The internet had already developed a troubleshooting 
backlog. [The FBI’s history of the Morris worm](https://www.fbi.gov/history/cases-and-criminals/morris-worm).

## one evergreen detour: the octopus has assigned each heart a job

![Close view of a pale purple octopus on the seafloor near Shallop Canyon, with 
curled arms and rows of suckers visible.](https://i0.wp.com/tacobout.online/wp-content/
uploads/2026/11/facet-facts-november-2-octopus.jpg?resize=1920%2C1080&ssl=1)

This one has no November 2 anniversary attached. An octopus has three hearts: two
push blood through the gills, while the third circulates oxygenated blood around
the body.

Its oxygen-carrying protein, hemocyanin, contains copper rather than the iron in
our hemoglobin, giving the blood its blue color. Three hearts and eight arms is 
quite a lot of equipment for an animal that can still look mildly inconvenienced
by a camera. [Smithsonian Ocean’s explanation of cephalopod circulation](https://ocean.si.edu/ocean-life/invertebrates/octopuses-squids-and-relatives).

Image credits: International Space Station, photographed December 2, 2000, [NASA](https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/looking-back-international-space-station-start-of-expedition-1/);
used editorially under [NASA’s media guidelines](https://www.nasa.gov/nasa-brand-center/images-and-media/).
Octopus near Shallop Canyon, [NOAA, via U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service](https://www.fws.gov/media/octopus-northeast-canyons-and-seamounts-marine-monument),
public domain. Images shown at reduced display size without creative alteration.
No claim to original U.S. Government works.